Seasons of Ferne, Summer's Passion

Chapter 10

His flight was far higher than that taken by normal birds, it had to be. It was the only way he could look somewhat normal to any casual observers on the ground. It wasn't his looks that gave him away, to any untrained eye he was just like any other golden eagle in flight, a perfect likeness to the species. The problem was his size.

As magical as Puck was, some laws of the physical world simply cannot be broken. An eighty pound humanoid cannot turn himself into a fifteen pound bird. In his more human form he appeared as a small boy, a harmless child no more intimidating or noticeable than a kitten. But stretched out in his bird form, he stood over five feet tall with a wingspan of nearly twenty feet. More than enough to attract the wrong kind of attention.

Puck had long since mastered the art of remaining invisible to the human eye, his skin easily matching the patterns and colors of whatever was around his body, rendering Puck perfectly camouflaged. Of course as a bird his feathers couldn't change, and neither could his violet eyes. But eye color wouldn't matter to any humans facing down such a massive bird. In centuries past his accidental or mischievous appearances had given birth to such human legends as griffins and dragons; that was until he had been ordered to end his playful antics.

Then again, back then humans were pretty harmless with their primitive weapons, nowadays he would be shot and captured. He relied not only on remaining excessively high in flight, but also on the cover of darkness or clouds whenever he was forced to travel in his second form. Today was one of those days, the queen's messenger had summoned him to the pool.

As the ancient forest where the liminal grew approached far below, Puck flew in a wide, slow circle. Eyesight magically enhanced, he scanned through the thick canopy to the forest floor in search for any human activity within sight of the liminal tree itself. Satisfied with his search, he folded his massive wings in and dove towards the canopy, fast. Even from his extreme height, his speed brought him within feet of the canopy in less than two seconds. His wings sprung open just as his powerful talons stretched out to take hold of the uppermost branches of a mighty oak, magic the only thing keeping his appendages attached to his body as he fought against the sheer force of the drop.

Puck landed in near silence, only the subtle rustling of leaves as the thick branches took the sudden weight of his body marked his arrival. Moments later he was a small boy nimbly climbing down the rough branches with practiced ease. The lowest branch hung several feet above the forest floor, bracing the bottoms of his feet against the tree's thick trunk, Puck dove at the branch like a high diver. Gripping the branch tightly with the palms of his hands the moment his skin touched bark, Puck swung himself under and released his grip, preforming a graceful flip in the air before landing lightly at the base of an ancient, twisted tree.

The forest was silent, save for the light breeze and occasional creak of the trees that swayed in the wind. No birds sang here today, no deer or squirrels played in the soft green light that shone through the canopy above. The queen wanted her privacy, or at least the privacy of her messenger, and had been sure to cast a temporary banishment spell around the liminal, leaving nothing to greet Puck but the rich smells of earth and dew.

Violet eyes shining like mirrors, he took in the sight of the massive tree. Like every other magical thing left in this world, the tree was slowly fading away, its life force siphoned drip by drip. The world of humanity has a way of destroying all that is old and magical, a dark vampire whose ill effects not even this tree was powerful enough to resist. Saddened by the inevitability of its demise, he ran his hand lightly over the dry surface, taking in long forgotten memories of those who had cast the tree's original enchantments. Memories of magic and laughter, of life and the hope of a new beginning. Memories that will soon be lost forever.